Homely Scientist

So, is the government to blame – or are scientists working for the government to blame? Science geeks, help me out here. What really happened?
Source: Daylight Saving Time – Snafu ~ Chris Pirillo

Yeah this recent change to DST in the US and Canada has been a pain.  I’ve had to help re-set VCR and TV clocks.  Had to make sure devices were patched.  And for what?  Nothing.

Yep, nothing.  See here is the basic theory, by “springing forward” each Spring, people can stay outside longer and use less electricity (since it’s light out later).  Okay, good idea.  Yes, it does actually work.  In fact my dad told me that during World War II the clocks were changed often so that factory workers could come home in daylight (it was a morale issue then).

Now this most recent DST change (moving from April to March) was supposed to bring more energy savings.  Okay, sure.  So the U.S. Congress decided to do it.  Canada had to follow suit so we wouldn’t be out of sync with our largest trading partner for three weeks.  Great.  So did it work?  Did we saving energy?  Nope.  Zero-sum game.  Because it was dark in the morning for a lot of people, they had to use more electricity then, offsetting not using it later.

Yeah, I’m pissed off too.  Is Congress going to change back?  Man I hope not anytime soon.  Look this has caused a serious tech headache.  I don’t think Congress really thought about this when they passed the law.  Now they should.

So what went wrong?  Faulty assumptions.  Faulty assumptions are the bane of a scientist’s existence and this one was a doozy.  Guys this is why we have computer models.  Oh well, maybe if we just accelerate the switch to compact fluorescent bulbs it might work out…

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